❃ The Truth Revealed ❃
After he was sure that Jet and the guards had left, Zuko immediately made a straight line for his friend. He had seen the boy push her away, but obviously didn't have the time back then to check on her.
"Are you okay?" He asked.
Keya nodded carefully, but the groan that left her lips revealed the truth. Although the gash on her head had stopped bleeding by now, that didn't mean that her head didn't feel like it was splitting open. She also felt a bit woozy and lightheaded after the shocking experience. Having a knife pressed against her throat was not what she had envisioned for her time in the 'safest' city in the world.
Zuko gently pulled her hands away from her face. His own calloused digits held her chin and lifted it to face him. His other hand inspected the wound with barely concealed concern. The sight of the nasty gash made his gut clench. Rage bubbled up again as he thought back to the fight. He wanted to scold her for jumping in front of their patrons and putting herself in jeopardy, but he kept quiet after seeing the tired look in her crystal eyes. Why hadn't he been there sooner?
"You're not okay. I'm taking you home." His statement was final.
The young Prince tried to keep his voice calm and collected as he spoke. As a firebender, he didn't want to scare the girl by letting his anger get the best of him, especially not now that she finally considered him her friend. She had been through enough today as it was.
Keya just nodded again in response. She was too tired to force words out of her mouth now that the adrenaline had metabolised out of her system. The young woman leaned against her friend slightly as he guided her back to their apartment. Iroh stayed behind to help Pao close up shop for the night.
The walk to the apartment didn't take very long. Zuko made extra sure to keep an eye out for any other 'enemies', despite Keya's insistence that Jet's friends would not attack them for revenge. After all, they would have helped Jet out earlier if they were still on his side, right? It only did a little bit to lessen Zuko's antics. He wanted to keep an eye out for her, especially since he blamed himself for not stepping in sooner when Jet was around.
He opened the door and led her through the kitchen towards the couch, where he carefully helped her sit down. As soon as he knew that she wasn't going to fall over, Zuko headed to the washroom and retrieved a water bowl and a clean cloth. He cleared his throat awkwardly and sat down next to her. Keya noticed his intentions and angled her forehead for him to clean with his rag.
"Excuse me..." He mumbled formally, before waiting for her to give her concent. She nodded, so he took that as a sign to start. It was as if the intimate act of cleaning her wound had triggered his royal upbringing to reveal itself. Sitting so close to a girl his age, especially one of foreign descent- it would have caused a massive scandal back in the Fire Nation. But now, there was no one around to judge. Something about it made his heart thump nervously.
The two of them sat in silence as he dapped the damp cloth on her forehead. With some careful dapping, the rag had successfully removed any last grime and dust from the cut. The cut itself wasn't too deep, he could see that now. Still, the fall could have easily caused a mild concussion. Considering her silent and shaken state at that moment, that idea wasn't very unlikely.
"You should stay home tomorrow. You can't work like this." He said sternly. She wouldn't be much use to them anyway in her current state...
As soon as she'd heard his command, Keya's head shot up in alarm (to her regret, it caused another wave of pain). "What? No!" She protested. Her hands shot up into her hair. "I have to work! We need the money! What are we going to do?!"
Zuko looked on in surprise at the girl's reaction. Didn't she realise that she could make her situation worse if she worked? The Prince didn't understand what the fuss was about. If money was a problem, he could just go out and take up an extra shift. His worry for his friend grew as she continued to panic more and more. Her breathing even started coming out as ragged huffs and puffs, something that he had witnessed for himself a few times now.
"Hey--" He tried to calm her down by grabbing her hands and forcing them down. It didn't work. Next, he gently grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him. Her eyes were wild with panic. "Hey, just breathe. C'mon, in--" He inhaled deeply, allowing her to follow his instructions like his uncle often did during their lessons. "--and out. Right, again. In--" They inhaled together. "--and out." They repeated this exercise a couple of times until Keya visibly regained control of her breathing again.
With their final exhale, Keya seemed to have calmed down a bit. Zuko took this as the right time to inquire about her reaction. "What was that? I've seen you lose control like that a couple of times now."
To his surprise, tears gathered in Keya's eyes. Her lip quivered as she wept. "I- I don't know," She cried, "This whole thing started right after I left home..."
"Hey- don't- I didn't mean to upset you!" It was Zuko's turn to panic. Despite having seen her cry a couple of times before, the awkward teen still didn't know how to deal with it. The last time he had cried in front of someone was years ago, when his mother was still around. He couldn't hug the girl like his mother used to do, right? That would be highly inappropriate!
What would his uncle do if he saw the girl crying right now?
"Do you... do you want some tea?" He offered desperately, like a stressed mother offering her child's favourite toy. Keya shook her head, although his offer seemed to amuse her slightly.
"N-no," She sniffled and let out a wet chuckle. "Thanks for trying to cheer me up, though. I know I can be a cry-baby sometimes."
Zuko shook his head. His hand rubbed the back of his neck shyly. "I can teach you some breathing exercises for your... problem after you've healed. For now, you need to rest."
Keya sighed and took a moment to focus on her breathing again once he brought up the topic of work. "I'm going to work tomorrow. We need the money." She grit out softly.
"No you won't. We'll be alright. Uncle got a raise." Zuko explained, but the poor Earth Kingdom girl stubbornly shook her head.
"What if it's not enough?" She whispered and looked up at him. Her grey eyes glistened with leftover tears and caution. "What if we lose our home because it's not enough? My family- how would I contact them if we no longer have a place to live? Mister Pao has been good to us, but what if he fires us because of me? All of our hard work would have been for nothing--"
"—No." Zuko interjected her panicked ramble before it could escalate again. "Uncle has been bringing in too much business to be let go now. Even if our boss wants to just fire you, it won't happen." His raspy voice had never sounded so confident and assertive before. Rather than his usual cockiness or the 'big boy' façade he held, this time he sounded different, more mature. Like an actual Crown Prince.
"How are you so sure?" She asked him quietly.
His golden eyes flashed with an unknown drive, like a literal fire had been lit behind his dark lashes. He stood up with the bowl of water and looked down at her. "Because I won't let that happen."
His words sent a shiver down her spine. Keya gulped.
The two teenagers held intense eye contact for an extended moment, before the tension became too much to bare for the young woman.
"I can definitely see why you're the Prince now." She commented drily.
Zuko scoffed and rolled his eyes. He turned around to put the bowl away, when he suddenly realised what she had just said. The bowl dropped on the floor with a splash as the Prince swivelled back around. His slanted eyes were large and alarmed when he looked at her.
"What? No! I-I'm not- you've got it wrong! How hard did you hit your head?" His lame attempt at lying was a far cry from the brooding mood that he usually displayed. His antics were amusing to his tired friend.
Keya held a hand over her mouth as she laughed. Zuko stopped and looked at her. She knew... and she hadn't run off... "Since when?" He asked.
"Your uncle told me that night you went to look for lightning to bend. It was right after you yelled at me for mentioning your father, remember? Although, I had figured it out a bit before that. The two of you are awfully bad at keeping secrets..." She snickered. Her headache only bothered her slightly now, but it ached nonetheless.
Zuko smacked the palm of his hand against his face with a groan. "Of course, my uncle..." He picked the bowl up from the ground and set it aside, before speaking. "Why didn't you say something?"
"Oh," Keya smiled innocuously, "your uncle was scared that you'd get mad at him for telling me. Are you mad?"
Zuko was baffled. He was too baffled, in fact, to get angry. "He even gave me advice on how to tell you..." He thought out loud. Did the old man really tell him all of that, despite the girl knowing already?
Keya raised an intrigued eyebrow. "You were actually going to tell me? When?"
"Today, actually. But I thought that it would be a bit too much after the whole, ehm, 'Jet' thing. Clearly, I worried over nothing." He grumbled.
"Yeah, you worried over nothing. I'm kind of flattered that you were going to tell me, though..." Keya trailed off. She wasn't too sure what she could say now. Thankfully, her companion still had enough questions to ask her.
"Why did you stay? To you, I must be the ultimate representation of the enemy." Zuko looked down with shame as the words left his mouth.
"Yeah, you kind of were at the time. Buuttt they kicked you out, so I guess we were on the same team? Besides, your uncle's tea was worth the risk." Keya joked lamely. In reality, she herself wasn't even certain why she had stayed with the two firebenders for so long. Perhaps being with them was simply a better alternative than being alone.
"You stayed for tea? Ha! The two of you are way too alike." Surprisingly, the Prince let out a genuine laugh. His broad smile made him look like the sixteen year old that he really was.
He was beautiful...
Keya's fingers felt her cheeks subtly. She hoped that her shyness and embarrassment didn't shine through too much. First, his assertiveness and now, that happy smile? What had happened to the grumpy boy she knew? Why was he suddenly so... don't think that!... attractive? Oh no!
"You should laugh more, it looks good on you." She couldn't help herself with the compliment. It was now Zuko's turn to turn red. He rubbed the back of his neck and averted his eyes.
"It doesn't matter how I look." He grumbled, although she could detect no anger in his voice. "My scar will always be the only thing people notice anyway. It marks me as the banished nobody that I am. It's shameful."
"I disagree." Keya said. "You know, at first, I didn't believe that you could be a Prince because of your bad manners-"
Zuko instantly gave her a deadpan look. Keya quickly put her hands up playfully, indicating for him to hear her out. "-But even then I could tell how your features were so... sharp and, uhm, handsome. You really do look like a Prince, now that I think about it." She stammered.
"Oh." Zuko didn't know what to say after her confession. She thought that he of all people was handsome? To his great embarrassment, the only response he could think of was to give his own account of their first meeting. "When I first saw you, my head was in your lap. I remember being so dazed and confused that- for a moment, I thought I was back home with my mother. She was the only one who ever held me like that, or at all." He frowned with a forlorn look in his eyes.
"You thought that I was your mother...?" Keya thought it was cute how he freaked out when he realised what he had implied (even though she was sad to hear that he hadn't been held for a long time). Did he want her to hold him?
He backtracked hurriedly when he realised that he had gone way off track. "No! I don't think of you as my mother! Far from it, actually! You're more like- Ugh, I was just confused and-" He grumbled and sighed frustratedly as he tried to recollect himself.
"What I meant to say was... I thought that you were..."
At that moment, the nervous teenager made the terrible mistake of looking into the girl's eyes. Keya's large, grey irises somehow always had a disarming effect on him. Her old tears had left her dark cheeks with a red tinge, while the rest of her skin glowed in the reflection of the moonlight. Her messy hair framed her broad cheekbones like it had been styled that way by the spirit of beauty itself. Her messy braid had long since come undone, leaving the rest of her wild manes to flow down her shoulders in many different types of waves and spikes. And then there were her lips...
Zuko swallowed thickly. His eyes betrayed him as they glanced down to those full lips. They parted softly while he stared, immediately making him look back up again. Gold and silver, fire and ice... two sets of eyes gazed at one another. They had been through so much, both alone and together. There was a mutual understanding between the two of them, a respect for one another that he hadn't felt with anyone but his uncle. And yet, the fact that they came from enemy nations made their connection feel... dangerous... Yes, it was dangerous. Since when had they become this close? Since when...?
"I'm home! Did you two get home safely?" Iroh's jolly presence broke through the tension in the little apartment as he opened the front door.
Keya and Zuko instantly jumped apart, both shocked and disenchanted. Their moment had passed, but it would not be forgotten anytime soon. The two teenagers moved to opposite ends of the room in the matter of seconds. Zuko stumbled over to their shared bedroom sliding door while Keya sank deeper into their green couch. Iroh didn't notice their odd behaviour (or so he pretended). The old man simply closed the door behind him and turned to the two with an amused glint in his amber eyes.
Zuko was the first to speak up. "Yes, uncle!" He hesitated, before opening the door to their bedroom. "I'm going to bed early."
With that, he disappeared into the sleeping area. Iroh turned his attention to the shy girl on his couch. "How's your head, dear?" He asked gently.
Keya nodded. "It's alright. Your nephew told me not to go to work tomorrow, though. Do you think that mister Pao would be alright with that?"
Iroh looked at her fondly and smiled. "I've already arranged a day off for you, so don't worry about that. Just make sure to take it easy and take good care of yourself... although, my nephew seems to have helped a little bit already." He laughed.
"What?" Keya stammered. She could feel her face heat up again. Had he seen them?!
Iroh motioned to the wet rag beside her, the one that Zuko had used to clean the gash on her head. "Oh..." She sighed with a hand on her heart. "Yes, your nephew helped me a lot tonight."
❃
A/N: sometimes I feel like I'm a very boring writer, so I was surprised to see all the growing support for this story! Thank you guys for helping me reach over 1K views! All readers are very appreciated <3 also, I love reading your comments so don't hesitate to give me feedback! Love ya xx